At this point, the Ice Empress was finally moved. She solemnly asked, "How confident are you?"
Tian Meng replied, "By myself, 1000%. Moreover, he was someone which reincarnated from another world…"
Ryu was shocked "So this Tian Meng could read my mind"
"My beloved, Now what is your choice?"
"Do I have any other choice?" The Ice Empress replied in an indifferent tone. Despite her tone, however, her dense killing intent and chilliness had already decreased by a large amount. She was clearly trying to reach a compromise. Although she'd have to give up her freedom in for this chance at achieving immortality, living was still much better than dying—especially to a spirit beast like her, who'd already lived for nearly four hundred thousand years.
Tian Meng let out a large sigh of relief. "It's no wonder that you're the Bingbing I love the most. In the future, you'll definitely be delighted by the choice you've made today."
The Ice Jade Empress Scorpion angrily replied, "Tian Meng, if a piece of trash like you dares to take advantage of this old woman, I'll see to it that you two follow each other to the grave, even if it means risking my life to do so. I don't believe that I won't be able to destroy this cage of yours if I self-destruct. If that happens, you two will have no choice but to accompany me to my death. I'm fine with creating a God with you, but I have a request: Don't speak so much bullshit."
"Err… you don't have to be this merciless. I really came here just for you…."
The Ice Empress looked at him coldly but remained silent.
"Alright fine, I agree. Release your spiritual origin for me. You can't just hope that I'll release you like this. That temper of yours doesn't reassure anyone."
Even though the Skydream Iceworm had been shooting his mouth off, he was still an extremely careful person. The Ice Jade Empress Scorpion's strength ranked her second in the entire Extreme North—how could releasing her be an option? The risks were too high if he did that. At the same time, Tian Meng wasn't worried about her self-destructing as she'd mentioned earlier. A spirit beast would almost always choose the path of survival, so long as there was even a trace of a chance that they would.
A trace of hesitation appeared in the Ice Empress' eyes. The second she released her spiritual origin, with the disparity in spiritual power between her and the Skydream Iceworm, there would be no way for her to back out. If the Skydream Iceworm was lying to her, she'd have no hope of turning the tables.
When he saw the doubt in her eyes, Tian Meng solemnly said, "Almighty Ice God, I, Tian Meng, the Skydream Iceworm, vow on the name of Ice that I shall be stripped of all my Ice if I lie to the Ice Empress and don't help her become an intelligent spirit ring once she releases her spiritual origin."
This vow didn't seem to hold much meaning to Ryu, but the Ice Empress didn't have the same view; in the Extreme North, this was the most important vow a spirit beast could make.
"Fine, I believe you." As someone who had become one of the Extreme North's Three Emperors, the Ice Empress was capable of killing without sparing a second thought. After hesitating for a brief moment, she decided. After all, the current Tian Meng had already lost his body. Besides, it was just like he'd said: It wasn't an impossibility for her to be reborn from the ashes. Furthermore, she'd always known that Tian Meng liked her. After considering several factors, she finally confirmed her decision.
Her crystalline yellow pupils gradually turned jade-green, while her long, jade-green tail suddenly rose into the air. This was something that she was only able to do after the Skydream Iceworm had loosened her bindings.
A soft, jade-green halo began to undulate from the root of her tail, then moved backward and gathered at the tip of her tail. In a flash of jade-green light, small, jade-green balls of light began to separate from one another as they slowly rising into the air. At the same time, the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion's eyes immediately lost their luster and dimmed.
This was her spiritual origin.
Even though the process of releasing one's spiritual origin seemed simple, not just any spirit beast could do it. Only when a spirit beast broke through their limits and reaching the hundred thousand year rank could they do such a thing. Of course, it naturally didn't pose any problems to unrivaled experts such as the Skydream Iceworm and the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion.
After letting out a large sigh of relief, Tian Meng's own golden ball of light immediately glided forward and glued itself to his shedding skin. The golden light increased in size the instant the jade-green ball of light made contact with it as it swallowed the jade-green ball of light like a whale swallowing its food. After swallowing the jade-green ball of light, it returned to Ryu's body and re-entered it via his forehead. Afterward, Tian Meng's shedding skin rapidly retreated back into Ryu's semi-frozen body.
After losing her spiritual origin, the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion's main body fell to the ground. With her spiritual origin no longer control it, her body immediately began to release an extremely terrifying amount of murderous might, while a jade-green luster simultaneously appeared in the sky. It could be imagined how terrifying the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion was from this.
"I'll introduce you two. Ryu, this is Bingbing. Er… I meant to say Ice Empress. Anyway, this is the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion who is the second-ranked Empress of the Extreme North's Three Emperors. Ice Empress, this is Uchiha Ryu"
"Hello, Ice Empress," Ryu said
The Ice Empress hesitated for a moment, then said, "Hello. I hope that you'll be able to persevere through this process. If you can't, all of our efforts will have been for naught, and we'll all have to face the consequences."
The Ice Empress said to Tian Meng "Since I'm going to become an intelligent spirit ring, I want to transfer as much of my strength as possible to him."
Tian Meng said, "Are you saying that you want to transfer your bone, your spirit, then your ring last?"
The Ice Empress nodded.
Then, the Ice Empress said to Ryu, "Because I'm doing this of my own volition, there won't be any problems with you fusing with my spirit bone. Under my control, the energy contained within my spirit bone won't leak out. However, there's a problem with that. You'll have to withstand an enormous amount of pain. I've already thought about it, and to you, the most suitable spirit bone I can give you is the spine. Due to my four hundred thousand years of cultivation, I'm confident in replacing your entire spine, your ribs, and your sternum. Due to the overly enormous amount of energy, my spirit bone contains, your entire skeleton will be remolded by my spirit bone. This process will be relatively long, and extremely painful. You'll feel as if all your bones are being disassembled and reconstructed. Can you withstand this amount of pain? My energy can protect your body, but it can't protect your mind. If you're unable to endure the pain and your mind collapses, everything will all be wasted."
Ryu said " "Ice Empress, I can endure it. No matter how painful it gets, I'll be fine because I'm the strongest person in this world"
The Ice Jade Empress Scorpion said, "Okay. Since that's the case, let's not waste any more time."
The Ice Empress' voice rang out, "I'll use the cold to numb your pain, so as to reduce the pain you'll feel to the very minimum. However, your body isn't fully developed yet, so I'll have to be extremely careful while fusing with your original skeleton. Because of this, this process will go on for a very long time. For the sake of attaining maximum effectiveness, you can't pass out. The only way I can make a few adjustments based off your body's instinctive reactions is if you remain conscious."
"No problem," Ryu said
A jade-green light flourished in Ryu's mind, and his Spirit Eyes instantly turned jade-green accordingly. Tian Meng appeared to have gone completely silent, allowing the Ice Empress to carry out the fusion process.
Two rays of jade-green light shot out from Ryu's eyes, accurately landing on the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion's body. This, in turn, caused her 1.5 meter-long body to immediately shake violently. This was especially true for her long tail, which undulated unceasingly and violently with a jade-green halo. The diamond-like hexagonal protrusions on her body released an even more dazzling luster.
Ryu heard the Ice Empress let out a long sigh. Right after that, he felt an immense sensation of cold that instantly numbed his body and spirit.
The ground Ryu was lying on suddenly shook, and he floated into the air, supported by a jade-green light. On the other hand, the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion's main body rapidly flew over to his body.
An intense jade-green light wildly fluctuated towards the tip of her tail. When the jade-green light turned dark-green, the Ice Empress suddenly swung her tail, viciously stabbing it into Ryu's tailbone.
"If it like this, I will be turned to Masochist, this is not good"
Ryu summoned his second Martial Spirit, The Bone Emperor - Chaos Void Time Djinn. Ryu was surrounded by a skeleton-like dragon, and he got black wings.
The skeleton-like dragon put spiritual pressure, and in the blink of eyes, the pain weakened and he felt nothing.
"Hahaha… Now it's better" Ryu laughed
"This" The Ice Empress was shocked. A trace of admiration appeared in the Ice Empress' heart. This human wasn't normal.
In the beginning, the jade-green lights were merely strands of string that covered his spine, sternum, and ribs. As time passed, however, these strands of jade-green light started gradually expanding and widening, creating an outline of Ryu's entire skeleton.
The day became night, and night became day again. The jade-green light on Ryu's body was becoming increasingly intense, and the alternating colors of red and white on the surface of his skin began to weaken more and more. However, the qi and blood within Ryu's body were much, much stronger than when he had originally started the fusion process.
Though the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion had only fused an extremely minuscule part of her energy with Ryu's qi and blood, it was an extremely beneficial supplement to him. That was the origin energy of an Empress whose cultivation neared four hundred thousand years!
Through this nourishment, a transformation started to occur in Ryu's muscles, bones, and internal organs. Even if he didn't receive any limb or skull bones, Ryu's physique was comprehensively strengthened at this moment. Following the strengthening of his physique, the amount of pain he suffered now gradually decreased.
"Right now, the fundamentals of your fusion with the spirit bone have been completed."
The Ice Jade Empress' tail which was stabbed into his spine slowly pulled back, placing Ryu on her back.
"Now This is the final process, absorb me as your spirit" a red spirit ring appeared and Ryu started to absorb it. His sternum, ribs, and spine were emitting a jade-green glow.
A spirit ring that flickered with a dazzling light rose up from the youth's feet. This spirit ring was simply too bizarre; it shone with a terrifying blood-red light. This noble, cold spirit ring that shone with a luster resembling a bloody sea emitted a boundless amount of might from it. There were also four golden patterns which were faintly discernible on the blood-red spirit ring. The interwoven colors of red and gold were extremely dazzling amidst the snowy plains of ice. The instant this spirit ring appeared, a sudden transformation occurred to the youth's aura. A desolation that seemed to come from the ancient times appeared on his body.
There were no obvious changes to his body, but there was now an enormous tattoo on his back. There was a pair of pincers that flickered with a dazzling light, and a captivating, jade-green tail. Was that not the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion?
This tattoo was extremely large, practically covering his entire back. Its six limbs hugged his ribs, and its pincers were located on the back of his shoulders. Its long tail was followed his spine, continuing all the way till his backbone before it slanted to the right, ending on his right buttock.
Other than the enormous tattoo, the youth's greatest transformation was in his hands. His hands were now covered in a layer of extremely detailed diamond-like hexagons, which were about the size of a bean. If you looked at him as a whole, the resplendent luster coming from his arms also brightened the enormous tattoo on his back. Naturally, all of these changes, other than the one that had occurred to his hands, would be hidden if he had clothes on.
"I've succeeded."